Tuesday, 25 February 2014

entangled in Romance has a submissions call for their 2014 Holiday Anthology ending on March 15, 2014.It's hard to think about next Christmas as we try to get through the rest of this winter (which has been sooo cold this year). Time to write something spicy to warm things up!They are looking for 15-20k about the holiday season in any era up to and including WWI.Please see my new writer's calendar on page 4 of my blog for upcoming events and submissions in the publishing world too.entangledinromance Call-for-Submissions-2014-Holiday-Anthology

Friday, 14 February 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!I had the opportunity to read Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

Rebecca Hamilton has a nice, smooth writing style
that makes it a pleasure to read Her
Sweetest Downfall quickly.I haven’t
read any of the other books in this series.I would give this 3.5 stars. This novella can be read stand-alone but is clearly part of a more encompassing and bigger story.

The reader is launched into action straight away
with the abduction of Ophelia by the mysterious Ethan of Rome who has the
ability to travel via the inbetween anywhere
in a few moments. Ophelia is a sweet girl who nevertheless has some
sass and sensibility.I’m not sure how I feel about the premise of a heroine
faced with the decision of having to become something she at least initially
abhors (a Cruor elemental) in order to fulfill her own destiny and essentially
save the world order. However, Ophelia at least questions this and other things
to her credit.Ethan is very gentlemanly in his role but we don’t
really get to know much about him. He is very dedicated to what he sees as doing his duty.
Rebecca Hamilton uses this in-between novella in
The Forever Girl series to flesh out the elemental mythology of Cruor, Chibold,
Ankou, Morts and Strigoi races and the dual breed mixes that she writes about in
this book series. I found the ending a little convenient in face of
the challenge presented but on a romantic level, satisfying. And the ending
reads a bit rushed, as if Hamilton didn’t want to spend the time working on
it.I liked Her Sweetest Downfall as a sweet, short read despite not being a
vampire-type book fan but am not sure that I will read the others.

Saturday, 1 February 2014

I think this growing new category of books is fantastic as the scope and variety are practically limitless. We see everything from contemporary romance to westerns, paranormal romance, sci-fi and really anything the imagination can conceive. I'll be watching trends over this year to see which of the sub-categories are selling better.